3 Answers
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Dodge and Burn normally applies when you want to change the relative exposure of part of an image.

In Lightroom you can do this with an adjustment brush that you set to change the exposure or brightness (there is a difference)

In Photoshop and GIMP there are specific tools for Dodge and Burn that you can also use like a paintbrush. For example you may be happy with the general exposure of an image but may just want to burn (darken) the edge of a cloud or dodge (lighten) someone's eyes to make them "pop".

You can dodge and burn to make textures pop by applying contrast selectively - for example, on someone's clothes, you would burn the creases and darker areas and dodge parts where light is already striking.

Just to clarify, when you say "burn the creases and darker areas" -- so make the darker areas even darker? "dodge parts where light is already striking" -- so, make lighter areas even lighter?
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jetsetMay 30 '14 at 19:12